Stephen King Reveals His Halloween Horror Recommendations

As Halloween approaches, Stephen King stories become go-to sources of horror, though the author himself has his own picks for what you should consume this month, which includes the remake of Child’s Play, the French TV series Marianne, and the book Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. While the Child’s Play remake is available to rent, it isn’t yet available on a streaming service, while Marianne can currently be viewed on Netflix. If these tales of terror are good enough for the mind behind The Shining, IT, and Pet Sematary, then they are certainly good enough for his fans to check out.

“I didn’t go see it in the theaters, because I thought, ‘Well, this is just another warmed-over sequel,’” King shared with Entertainment Weekly of the Child’s Play sequel. “Mark Hamill does the voice of Chucky and I just f—ing loved that movie. I laughed and I cried at the things in there. Everybody who’s in the movie does a terrific job. It’s a smart script and it’s just a load of fun. It really is. It’s gruesome as hell.”

He continued, “There’s this scene where this guy is [laughs] hanging some Christmas lights on his house, and Chucky does something to the ladder, and he falls off and he lands on his feet, and his bones come right out the side [now convulsing with laughter] of his legs. And you know, it’s not funny, but at the same time it is funny.”

If you prefer to stretch out your horrifying tales and consume them over a longer period of time, Marianne offers many more hours of entertainment. King pointed out that the series even reminds him of another Netflix hit.

“I love the series that’s on Netflix now, Marianne,” the author pointed out. “It’s a French series and it’s very, very scary. There is something in there from Stranger Things, so a little bit of that vibe, and a little bit of the Steve King vibe as well.”

In the chance that you’ve already gotten your fill of live-action terror and prefer to immerse yourself in a book, King noted that Ninth House offers a more adult-oriented interpretation of a series that’s a hit with kids.

“There’s a wonderful book called Ninth House, its by Leigh Bardugo,” King expressed. “It’s like Harry Potter but for grownups. That’s the kind of book, you read that, you say to yourself, it’s scary, it’s smart, it’s imaginative, and you hope that there’ll be more.”

What do you think of King’s recommendations? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!